Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
After taking heat for telling New Hampshire voters that “the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do,” Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley received an official endorsement from the most famous Black person in American history.
Despite the oft-repeated efforts to whitewash this country’s racial legacy, there is one famous Black historical figure who will never be forgotten. In civil rights lore, this world-renowned influencer has more clout than Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and all of the Kardashians combined. They are cited in conversations about forgiveness, grace and racial righteousness more than the biblical prophets and the Founding Fathers combined.
The Black friend.
The Black friend is an American hero. It can instantaneously absolve someone of bigotry during “uncomfortable” conversations about race, discrimination or actual history. Simply dating a Black friend in college can wipe away a white woman’s anti-Blackness and justify a co-worker’s microaggression.
While the notorious negro acquaintance has rarely been spotted in real life, presidential contender Nikki Haley recently summoned up this Black savior to explain away her inability to remember the reasons for America’s original white supremacist insurrection. According to Haley, she can’t be racist because, well … Let’s hear what she had to say:
“If you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery,” Haley explained at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire. “I had Black friends growing up. [Slavery] is a very talked-about thing.”
To test the veracity of Haley’s statement, theGrio wanted to delve deeper into Haley’s relationship with her African-American allies….
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